1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a child seat allowing a child to be safely seated on a passenger seat of a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
The conventional child seats fall into broad categories: a so-called built-in type which is integrated into the vehicle seat, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.9 (1997)-267677, and a type which is separate from the vehicle seat and designed to be securely installed on the vehicle seat, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.10(1998)-119611.
The child seat of the former type is adapted to retract into the vehicle seat. Accordingly, the vehicle seat may readily be shifted to a normal adult seating position by retracting the child seat into the vehicle seat when the child seat is not used. This offers improved convenience of use. However, because of the integration into the vehicle seat, the child seat cannot be removed and hence, is not installable in different vehicles. That is, there is a disadvantage that the child seat is specific to the vehicle.
On the other hand, the child seat of the latter type has an advantage of being installable in different vehicles. However, this child seat suffers a rather great total weight because a seat body is highly rigidly constructed and a securing device is required for installing the seat body on the vehicle seat. This results in difficult operations for attaching or removing the child seat to or from the vehicle seat. Besides, an additional disadvantage is that a space is necessary for storing the removed child seat when it is not used.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the invention to provide a child seat which features lightweight, easy attachment or removal thereof with respect to the vehicle seat and convenience in handling the child seat when it is not used.